Q: I'd like to see renewable energy in action. Where can I find wind turbines?

A: Hopefully in the new energy bill! It's all up to Congress, which is still working to reconcile competing versions of the energy bill passed by both the U.S. House and Senate this summer.

If you support developing more renewable energy, now is a great time to contact your representatives in Congress and let them know. A good place to check for updates on the energy bill is Renewable Energy Access. These are a few of the issues related specifically to wind.

(All joking aside, if you're looking for the locations of wind turbines, check out this handy map from the American Wind Energy Association, which lists commercial-scale wind projects across the United States, and you can learn more about home-scale wind power options here.)

SIPs are basically thick sheets of expanded polystyrene board sandwiched between two sheets of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) or plywood. They can be used to construct walls, roofs, floors — even basements. SIPs allow very little air to pass through them, so they create a super energy-efficient structure.

I'm not recommending one manufacturer over another, but Thermapan has several detailed videos illustrating SIPs and their advantages. For those with dial-up connections, they offer a free CD.

I started thinking that compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) had really hit the mainstream when I was in a hardware store last spring and saw a CFL bug light. Wow, I thought. They're making CFLs that do everything now!

Compact fluorescents are great because they save a lot of energy and money, fast. But the early versions of this bulb all looked pretty much the same. (See photo at right.) That's the image most of us still have in our heads of what compact fluorescent light bulbs look like. In fact, I think I've heard people call these light bulbs 'the swirly ones' about as often as I've heard them called CFLs or compact fluorescents.

The problem is that a lot of people think the swirled shape of the light bulb at right is ugly. Personally, I think it's nice — kind of modern looking. But even those of us who like the way they look may have given up on CFLs for certain types of light fixtures where the standard CFL doesn't work, such as for lights with dimmer switches, or recessed lights.

Not so fast! As compact fluorescents have become more popular, different sizes and shapes are now easy to find. Chances are that they're stocked in your local hardware store, but if not, it's easy to find them online. You can find special bulbs that work with dimmer switches, bulbs for outdoor lighting, small bulbs for desk lamps, colored CFLs, and — perhaps most importantly — bulbs where the swirly part is hidden inside a globe that work well for all sorts of decorative lights.

 For More Information

Want to learn more about what makes CFLs so great? Check out these sources for related pages and articles: EnergyStar, the U.S. Deparment of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), National Public Radio and The New York Times.

Here are a couple of sources for buying specialty CFLs online: Buylighting.com, Topbulb.com, and Eartheasy.com.

 And if you have concerns about the mercury in CFLs, here's a related post.

Do you know of other helpful resources for learning more about energy efficient lighting? You can post them in the comments section below.

There's LEED certification, and then there's LEED-platinum certification. And the first building to receive this rating is the carbon-neutral Aldo Leopold Foundation headquarters. And at about $333 per square foot, platinum maintains its reputation as being expensive. Still, the building should produce more energy than it consumes on an annual basis — no small feat in Wisconsin.

Things aren't looking good for renewable energy in the new energy bill, but nothing has been decided yet. Here's some background on what's happening now: In August, the U.S. House and Senate passed different versions of an energy bill that had some exciting provisions for renewable energy. Now it looks like those provisions may be stripped out before the bill goes to the White House. Here's a good summary of the issues from Renewable Energy Access, and another from the New York Times.

Numerous environmental sites are discussing these issues. You can find more on two of my favorites, Grist and The Sietch.

Also, it's never a bad time to weigh in on these issues with your Congressional representatives. If you support more incentives for developing wind and solar power, now is a good time to call or e-mail the people who represent you in the House and Senate to let them know what you think.

Update: As of the middle of November, the energy bill is moving again. You can find a discussion of the current issues here. The entry below is from August 9, 2007.

For the past week, I've been reading about the energy bill just passed by the U.S. House. Now that Congress is on its summer vacation, we all have a chance to catch up on what happened during the House's recent flurry of activity. Here's a quick recap of what's been going on with the energy bill. 

• Back in June, the Senate passed a version of the energy bill that included higher fuel economy standards. If it becomes law, new cars and light trucks will have to get an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
• Last Saturday, at the last minute before leaving for the August recess, the House passed its own version of the energy bill. The House version doesn't include the fuel economy standards, but it does include a provision that has a lot of support from environmentalists: a national renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) that would require most electric utilities to get 15 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2020. More than 20 states have already passed similar laws, but a national rps standard would speed up the adoption of renewable energy across the rest of the country. Renewable Energy Access has a good summary of some of the other provisions of the House version of the bill.
• When Congress returns to work on September 4, the House and Senate will have to reconcile these two different versions of the energy bill before sending it to the White House. However, this week, President Bush threatened to veto the bill saying it doesn't do enough to encourage production of energy. You can read the administration's position on the energy bill in this statement from the Department of Energy.

An article entitled Natural Paints Put to the Test was recently posted to TheGreenGuide. Kate Harris writes about her personal experiences trying out several types of natural paints. For information on a broader range of paints (such as low Volatile Organic Compound VOC paints), read Stick with Safe Paint.

Earlier this year, as I was researching an article on energy-efficient lighting, I realized there was a simple question I didn't know the answer to: When I leave the room and know I'm coming back right away, should I turn off the light?

Here's the problem: Apparently, it takes a little more energy to turn the light back on than it does to keep it running. But how long does it take before you've burned more energy by leaving the light on than it would take to turn on the bulb again?

Luckily, there's a straightforward answer. As usual with questions about home energy, the EERE had all the information I was looking for. (EERE stands for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. It's a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, and their site is loaded with helpful energy saving tips.)

Here is their full, one page answer to this question. But these are the highlights:

• To save energy, always turn off the lights when you're not using them.
• To save money, sometimes it makes more sense to leave them on. EERE suggests leaving fluorescent lights on for up to 15 minutes if you're planning to go right back to a room. The reason is that turning these lights on and off reduces their life span, so if you switch them off more frequently, you'll have to buy new light bulbs more often.

Easy enough, right? Of course, if you really want to save energy the first big switch you should consider is from incandescent to fluorescent (or compact-fluorescent) light bulbs. The energy savings add up quickly!

Earlier this fall, we wrote about the effort to reduce the harmful emissions school buses produce. Diesel exhaust can have detrimental health effects, especially to children who breathe it as they rides buses to and fro.

As part of its ongoing Clean School Bus USA program, the EPA is offering a new book free to libraries, schools, air quality programs, nonprofit education programs, etc. The book is another installment in the Magic School Bus series and is called The Magic School Bus Gets Cleaned Up.

In the book, children learn about the pollution their diesel bus emits and how it can be reduced. Apparently, they learn this as they travel through a diesel engine — hopefully they wear goggles! The kids learn about reducing idling and in the end their bus gets a filter to trap the particulate matter from their diesel engine.

I wonder if the book discusses using cleaner fuels, such as biodiesel and the new clean diesel.

For more on the book, click here and here. Teachers, librarians, etc. — to order the book, click here. Individuals and schools can order up to 20 copies each. Nonprofits working on diesel emissions issues can order up to 500.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has just released the 9^th edition of the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, by Jennifer Thorne Amann, Alex Wilson and Katie Ackerly. ACEEE is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating and advancing energy efficiency. They have published 22 books and over 250 research reports.

The first update in four years, the 9^th edition of this book contains new listings of the most energy-efficient products you can find to furnish your home and increase energy savings. It is also chock full of advice, and even includes a time-segmented home energy checklist for action.

Using diagrams, easy-to-follow instructions, and specific helpful Web sites and product brands, the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings is a thorough resource for any homeowner or homebuilder looking to cut costs and cut back their negative impact on Mother Earth.

The book is available at bookstores or from the publisher at www.newsociety.com.

I am 22 years old, and I've got a crisis on my hands. One of the greatest challenges my generation will face is confronting global warming. With the advent of the Internet naturally comes Internet activism. Unfortunately, it can be tempting to shoot off an e-mail to a congressman, sign a Facebook petition, and call it a day for fighting for what you believe in.

Today, however, more than 5,500 young people are confronting and shattering accusations of their so-called apathy: Today marks the beginning of Power Shift 2007, the very first national youth summit on climate change.

The summit, which will take place at the University of Maryland – College Park, will include speakers, workshops, music, and good old-fashioned rallies on Capitol Hill. The summit has three main goals:

• To make congress and the 2008 presidential candidates take global warming seriously.
• To empower a diverse network of young leaders in environmental policy.
• To achieve broad geographic diversity.

The summit starts today and will last through Monday. Updated blogs from the participants can be found here.

If your car is not in the shade on a sunny day (even in winter), it warms up quickly. That's the greenhouse effect.

If the windows in your house are in the right places, your house will warm up in winter, too. But how do you retain that heat? Thermal mass. If you're not already familiar with the concept, BuildingGreen.com has a good primer for you. Click here to read it.